You might be surprised with this plan of the French Army, but it actually makes sense. The French Defense Ministry released the “Defense Innovation Guidance Document (DOID) 2019: New Ministry Ambitions for Innovation” that states the Defence Innovation Agency is forming a “Red Team” that is comprised of sci-fi writers or futurologists to come up with “scenarios of disruption” that the military’s own planners might not think of.

If you are thinking of the late Tom Clancy, then yes, he is the type of writer that French Army would love to have in that “Red Team”. Techno-thriller writers can be considered, especially for threats in the near future as they base their stories on current affairs and how these shape the future of warfare and how nations play out their conflicts.

The “Read Team” will think of scenarios on how potential enemies of the state, such as foreign governments and terrorists organizations will use technology to disrupt the day-to-day activities of the government, and that includes the economy and national security. Russia and China are often accused of hacking governments, and with Russia alleged to being more active in influencing elections in the Europe and USA for forces that will promote its interests.

Photo: French Army Soldier (Source: Wikimedia)

Famous writers have predicted the future such as the moon landings as written by Jules Verne; HG Wells on the atomic bomb; George Orwell about mass surveillance and more.

Having Sci-fi writers to help in national security and defense matters is not exactly a new thing that has been thought by the French Defense Defence Innovation Agency. The Americans have been inviting sci-fi writers since the Reagan administration and it could be even earlier than before. Tom Clancy put techno-thrillers into high gear with the ultra-realism of the “Hunt for the Red October” and might have predicted the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with his “Debt of Honor.”

Can airsoft event organizers do the same? Who knows? We are looking especially at milsim event planners who sometimes use geopolitical events to write the scenarios for the event. What if they push their imagination a bit further by thinking out of the box possible ways that enemy forces can inflict losses on the opposing team by catching them off guard all the time.  That’s nice to think of, but they have to be really creative in thinking plausible scenarios that have not been anticipated before.

Top photo: French Foreign Legion